During Calvin Coolidge’s presidency, a man for whom my admiration is without bounds – H.L. Mencken – was highly critical of him. But later, after Mencken witnessed the hubris and power-gluttony of the men who followed Coolidge in that office, Mencken’s opinion of Coolidge improved greatly.
As we approach an election that will bestow power on a person who is unprecedentedly, in the annals of American history, unfit to exercise power, it’s good to remember, with the help of Amity Shlaes, Calvin Coolidge – one of the few truly decent (if not perfect) men to hold the office of U.S. president.
